On The Shoulders of the Shepherd | Max Lucado | The Porchlight Is On | Oak Hills Church

47:39 Well, we love a porch, don't we? We love a place like this that is just a picture of welcome, a threshold over which we can step to enter a safe place. We believe that God has a porch and that he welcomes us into his world, that he has prepared a place for us. and he so longs for every single person to step up on that porch. For that reason, he leaves the light on. He leaves the door unlocked. We're unpacking this idea this fall in a series of messages based on the great chapter of redemption.

48:33 It's Luke chapter 15. It sits right in the heart of Luke and reveals the heart of our Father. your homework assignment is over the next eight weeks to read this chapter every week you can read it every day you could read it multiple times a day or listen to it if you prefer do so with an open heart say lord what are you saying to me through these words and then number two don't miss a single message do all you can to be present drive all night if you're in ICU tell them you feel better and you need to leave charter a helicopter do whatever you need to do to be present i don't want you to miss a single time and if you happen to miss well go online that week and get caught up because god is talking to us through these wonderful words we continue the series today under this title on the shoulders of a shepherd.

49:37 As we pray, I'd like to mention that over the last two weeks, our Heavenly Father has called into heaven two special men, both of whom served as elders here for many years. Sherry Holland went to heaven last week, and Friday, just the day before yesterday, at 5 30 p.m george vaughn made that short step from earth into heaven and stepped through the veil to be welcomed by his savior george was an elder for many years at this church in equally important he was our architect yeah everything you see had his stamp on it his design, every piece of property that Oak Hills has had or has around the city was under his care and supervision. And we could not have been taken care of any better than George provided. So let's be grateful. So Heavenly Father, we ask you now to comfort the families of Jerry and George. And we know that Jerry and George are celebrating. Having been liberated from bodies that were riddled by cancer, they are now finally healed.

50:59 And grant, O Heavenly Father, that we too could live lives worthy of hearing our well-done, good, and faithful servant. Forgive our speaker. His sins are many. And help us to see Christ, just Christ. Through Christ we pray. All the church said, I've never wanted to be a sheep. Not once. I've never had a sheep poster on my wall. I've never worn a sheep t-shirt. Ask people who know me well. Ask my parents if they were still living. Ask my wife. Ask my kids. Is there ever an occasion that Max said, oh, I wish I could be a sheep? And they would say, well, if he did, he didn't say so. And I would say, he didn't say so because he doesn't want to. Now, sheep are cute.

51:51 they're sweet they score high on the mark of cuddletivity but low when it comes to nobility give me an eagle or a lion who wouldn't want to be the lion in the jungle even a dog knows how to protect its property a cat knows how to survive horses thunder across the plain, but a sheep. Or bad. No one wants to be a sheep. You know, they're not very smart. They're really not. Insects can kill them. They freak out at the slightest abnormality.

52:47 They can't defend themselves. They don't have claws. They don't have fangs. And they're slow. I think every one of you could outrun a sheep and when a predator catches a sheep that sheep is done it has no defense sheep can't even cross a creek without the care of a shepherd for fear of their wool becoming so laden with water that they get sucked under sheep I don't want to be a sheep but according to God I am one and so are you yeah that's the message of one of the stories that Jesus told in Luke chapter 15. This is the first of three stories three deceptively simple stories and in this one Jesus compares members of the human race to members of a shepherd's flock.

53:58 Then Jesus told them this parable. Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn't he leave the ninety-nine in the open country? and go after the lost sheep until he finds it. And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. And then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, Rejoice with me. I have found my lost sheep. Luke, the author of this gospel, says Jesus told them this parable. Parable. He calls this a parable. A parable is a story that is portable, that is profound, and that teaches a deep truth. It's a story that is portable.

54:58 That is to say, it can travel from culture to culture, from generation to generation, and not lose its meaning. And it's profound because it can never be exhausted. Every time it's studied, a new truth is uncovered. And it speaks to the deepest longings of the human heart. and this brief yet powerful poignant parable is a perfect example of that. So when we take this parable, this portable, this poignant story, when we take it and apply it to our lives, what do we notice? Well, two or three things come to mind. First of all, that the shepherd has sheep. the shepherd has sheep and that's us we're sheep now after what i just said about sheep you probably don't take that as a compliment you mean max i'm a dirty defenseless dumb animal yeah i know you'll have to take that up with god because repeatedly in scripture he uses the image of flocks and sheep and herds to describe humanity and really when you stop and think about it, it makes sense. I mean, we're not that bright, right? We don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. We think we might know. We have a few things scheduled tomorrow, but we've been around long enough to know that none of us knows really what's going to happen tomorrow. We're not that bright. We're not that strong. There are so many attacks of the devil that come after us. We feel knocked down, beaten up, diseases, difficulties, disturbances. We act like we can protect ourselves.

56:47 We save money. We lift weights. We train to use weapons. We try to use our brains. But once the economy falters or the cancer comes or the intruder gains the upper hand, we're like sheep. We scatter. We falter. We fall. And our hope, our only hope, is to set our eyes on the one who cares for us, the good shepherd who will never leave us. Alan Emery was a successful businessman who began his career by working in his father's wool business and as a young man his father sent him to spend time with a shepherd observing the work of the flock Thank you. in this case the shepherd had a large flock 2,000 heads of sheep and in this case of all things he was in Texas and so Alan Emery in a book cleverly entitled a turtle on a fence post describes a memory he has of spending the evening with the shepherd and the flock.

58:08 It was a beautiful night. The spring was beginning to chase away the winter chill. The sun was beginning to set. there was a shepherd there were three sheep dogs there was a bonfire and there were 2,000 sheep and as the night came those sheep just appeared like lumps on the grass as he looked around soon the conversation began to wane and he and the shepherd began to get sleepy. And the three dogs were asleep. All the sheep were asleep. The bonfire was still blazing, illuminating the night sky. And about the time everything got very quiet, as if on cue, the coyotes began to howl.

59:13 He perked up. the dogs looked up the shepherd stood up and he reached over and he grabbed a couple more logs and threw them on the already bright bonfire to make it even brighter and as the light became brighter Emery recalls looking out at the sheep and he said he saw thousands and thousands of tiny lights. and had they been moving, he said, I would have assumed they were fireflies, but they weren't, and he realized he was seeing the reflection of the bonfire in the eyes of the sheep. And at the threat, at the possibility of danger, the sheep did what God hopes we will do. They turned their eyes toward their shepherd.

1:00:19 Maybe the sheep aren't so dumb after all. they knew their limitations they knew their situation and they did what God prays for us to do and that is to set our eyes on him the Hebrew writer said let us look only to Jesus look only to Jesus not to ourselves not to our boss not to our pocketbooks But let us look only to Jesus, the one who began our faith and makes it perfect. Isaiah the prophet promised, you will keep in perfect peace all who trust you, all whose thoughts are what? Fixed on you.

1:01:13 Life in the flock is manageable as long as the flock has a strong shepherd. And according to the Bible, we have one. that's the second point of this parable not only does our shepherd have sheep but we the sheep have a shepherd and that's God that's God I would imagine you can finish the line from this famous psalm if I start it. Let me see if you can. The Lord is my, Psalm 23 and verse 1. The Lord is our creator, yes. The Lord is our maker, absolutely. The Lord is our master, our commander-in-chief, yes. But yes, yes, yes, a thousand times yes, the Lord is our shepherd.

1:02:12 Such imagery is rich to us. But I'm thinking it must have brought tears to the eyes of the first listeners in that agricultural community. Many of his listeners were surely shepherds. They all knew a shepherd. and they knew that the responsibility of the shepherd was to care for the sheep. That was his job assignment. He was in charge of the sheep.

1:02:44 Life as a sheep was a dangerous thing. There were predators everywhere and there was not much grass. Pasture was scarce. They needed a shepherd to anoint them, to lead them, to guide them. The Lord is my shepherd.

1:03:06 By the time King David wrote these words, he was king. But remember, he began as a shepherd, a shepherd boy. he could have said the lord is my commander in chief or the lord is my maker but what mattered to him most especially later in his life when he wrote these words is that he had a shepherd because he knew the role of a shepherd and a shepherd's job is one thing flock are not a part-time job for a shepherd tending sheep isn't a side hustle his only responsibility is to care for the sheep. How much it must have meant to David to write, the Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is in charge of me.

1:04:02 The Lord is responsible for me. The Lord provides for me. The Lord will guide me. The Lord will talk to me. The Lord will heal me. The Lord is my shepherd. I know you can say those five words, the Lord is my shepherd. I know you can say those words, but my question is, can you say them? Can you really say them?

1:04:33 The Lord is my shepherd. Can you say them triumphantly? The Lord is my shepherd. Can you say them personally? The Lord is my shepherd. Can you say them trustingly? The Lord is. my shepherd. That the one who existed before time began has placed himself in charge of me. He goes ahead of me. He comes up behind me. He stands to the right. He stands to the left. He leads me. The Lord is my shepherd. Friends, I would say to you that those five words are the fount out of which the river of hope Let's go.

1:05:29 flows. The Lord is my shepherd. What a promise is embedded in this story as Jesus is saying that he is the shepherd and we need that because of the last point and that is the sheep get lost. They just get lost and we do too. Isaiah the prophet said all of us like sheep have strayed away. we have left God's paths to follow our own. He said, turn right, we turned left. He said, go up, we went down. He said, don't doubt, we do doubt. And when we choose our way over his way, we get lost.

1:06:19 Lost in our troubles, lost in our confusion, lost in our despair, lost in our pain. and like lost sheep we are clueless how to get home we have no idea friends without him we never would but with him we can and we have promises like this one in Luke 15 and in verse 14 Jesus said suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them doesn't he lead the 99 in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it he doesn't say well I still got 99 doesn't hurt to lose one just one is gone and he goes and searches it friend can you envision the shepherd looking for the lost sheep can you envision him stepping along the ravine looking down in the crevices to see if that's where the lamb has fallen? Can you see him climbing in and out of caves searching for the sheep he has lost? Can you see the shepherd threading his way between the trees and the bushes getting scraped and cut, calling out, crying out, determined to find the sheep. Can you see the shepherd once he finds the sheep? And he smiles and he leans over and says, there you are, you little rascal. I've been looking for you.

1:08:00 and he leans down, and he lifts him up, and he puts him on his shoulders. No lecture. No sermon. No, when are you going to listen to me comment? He just leans down, and he lifts him up, and he puts him on his shoulders. I've seen paintings of shepherds as they're carrying a lamb and oftentimes they're holding their arms out and that that lamb is is on the forearms of the shepherd he's cradling the sheep as he takes that sheep back to the flock and that's a beautiful image but that's not this image is it in this image what does the shepherd do he puts him on his shoulders he reaches down and he puts him on his shoulders. He takes one hand and grabs the hind legs, takes the other hand and grabs the front legs, and he lifts him up and he puts him on like a shawl. Why does he do this? Because the next step is that the shepherd in ancient times would pull those four legs together and he would take a piece of twine and he would lasso them, tie them tight.

1:09:22 So there was no way that sheep could squirm off. No way. I really want to make a point here. Jesus is saying, I'm that shepherd. And dear friend, Jesus is saying to you, you're my sheep. and if you have said yes to Christ, I don't care how lost you were.

1:09:57 He has found you, and he has lifted you up, and he has put you on his shoulders, and he's not going to let you go. Ever. Ever. He is going to get you home. What matters less is your hold on him. What matters most is his hold on you.

1:10:28 What matters less. is your hold on him. What matters most is his hold on you. He has a hold of you. He has a hold of you. This falls on a topic in Bible study called eternal security. Eternal security. Eternal security says what saved you initially preserves you eternally. The same grace that saved you on the day you were saved keeps you saved every day of your life. He didn't change his plan. He didn't save you on the day of your salvation and then back away and say, well, now it's up to you to stay saved. We call that yo-yo salvation.

1:11:21 In that case, you're saved and lost 15 or 20 times on a given day. Oh, I had a bad thought. I'm lost. Oh, I'm sorry, Lord. I'm saved. I said a bad word. I'm lost. No, I'm saved. That's no way to live. That's not the way our Savior. His death on the cross is enough to carry you home. And when you look in the mirror, you're looking at a saved soul. You're looking at one that has placed you on his shoulders. You say, Lakato, that's too good to be true. How can you say that? Because I have seen what Christ did with his shoulders. I have seen that he took not just sheep, but he picked up a wooden cross.

1:12:09 And he took that cross all the way up a hill that was so ugly that we call it a skull. And he took upon himself, upon his shoulders, the sins of the world. yours and mine. and he did that for you for me I'm not sure Max you don't know how much I have hurt people abandoned people you don't know how often I've been drunk how much pornography I've watched how many drugs I've taken I don't but Jesus does and he told you this story he told you this story so that you would not doubt. this is the story, this is the gospel, that Christ Jesus wants everyone to be saved, that Christ Jesus has made sure that the porch light stays on so that everybody who finds him and longs for him can come home, so that if anybody goes to hell, it's over his dead body, because he wants all to be saved.

1:13:27 Listen to the words of Christ, the resolve of Jesus. This is the will of him who sent me. This is Jesus speaking. That I shall lose none of all he has given me, but raise them up on the last day. For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life. and I will raise him up on the last. Christ has no doubt neither should we In the spring of 2026, Nick Norris, within a span of 24 hours, climbed the highest peaks in England, Wales and Scotland.

1:14:26 And he did so in honor of his daughter, Zoe. Zoe died in 2017 three months shy of her second birthday and in her memory and to her honor he took on this quest and he did more than carry her in his heart he carried the weight of her when she died she weighed 22 pounds so he had a weighted vest made that weighed 22 pounds so that with each step it was as if he was carrying her. Companions accompanied him often offering to take their turn with the vest but he refused to share it and he would say she is my daughter this is my weight this is my grief.

1:15:36 your shepherd has done so much more for you and me. He has carried not just the weight of our bodies, but the weight of our sin. He carries the weight of the world so that we don't have to. what a good shepherd maybe it wouldn't be bad to be a sheep especially since we have such a wonderful shepherd amen thank you Lord for being our shepherd thank you for good news we're hungry for good news and it couldn't get any better than this through Christ we pray Thank you. Amen.

1:16:25 It's a puzzle to me why a person would refuse to allow Christ to carry their sin. It's a bit of a puzzle to me. Why would somebody refuse the chance to walk through the front door of heaven? Why? It's a puzzle. Pride, maybe? Misunderstanding or hurt? I don't know. But I know that invitation is open for every person. And we want to make sure that invitation is extended to you. We're going to offer a prayer. I'm going to invite you to say this prayer out loud with me. Follow me word for word, please. And at the conclusion of the prayer, if you're saying, yes, Lord, I want you as my shepherd, I'll ask you to stand up, just like all of us have done at one time in our lives who are saved. To stand up and say, today's my day.

1:17:18 and I'll just imagine Jesus lifting you up and putting you on his shoulders. Oh, what a moment that will be. So let's say the prayer and see who's going to get saved. Pray with me. Jesus, I'm not perfect for I have sinned, but I believe in you. Save me, change me, forgive me. I give you my life. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Amen. Who's saying yes to Christ today? Please stand up. We want to celebrate with you.